Thursday, September 04, 2014

Marrow Pies and Pomegranates.

The
pomegranate is the fruit of Punica
granatum, and humans have been growing it for at least five thousand years,
making it one of the oldest cultivated fruits. It is mentioned in the Bible, and
is believed to have originated in the Middle East, probably in what is now
known as Iran.

The
fruit has a thick skin, which meant that it could withstand time and transport
to a much greater extent than most other fruits in the distant past. The first
written reference to it in English, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, dates to 1330. It was, of course, an exotic
imported delicacy in the Middle Ages, and as such it could command huge prices,
and was a worthy gift to an important person. There is mention in the Privy
Purse expenses of Elizabeth of York in 1502 of ‘A present of poyngarnettes and apulles.’

The ancient
origin of the fruit is reflected in the complicated and confused explanations
of the origin of the English word pomegranate.
Essentially, it translates as ‘many-seeded apple’ (from, pomum, meaning ‘apple, andgranatum meaning
‘seeded.’) Previous incorrect but understandable explanations derived via folk
etymology suggested that granate
derived from garnet, indicating the
red seeds, or, that it meant ‘Apple of Granada.’

Old food words – what fun! I had a little fun with
words associated with pomegranate in
a previous post (here) – noting that it is related to the beverage grenadine, to the glorified meatball
called a grenade, as well as to the explosive
device knows as a grenade.

In another post some time ago I gave you the
recipe for Olio Podrida (a ‘Spanish
Stew’) from Robert May’s famous work, The Accomplisht Cook, or,
The Art & Mystery of Cookery, published in 1660. May suggests some alternative flavourings for
the very complex stew, saying ‘Some other times for variety you may use Beets, Potato's,
Skirrets, Pistaches, PineApple seed, or Almonds, Poungarnet, [Pomegranate] and Lemons.’ The pomegranate turns up in
several of May’s other recipes: To boil
peeping Chickens, the best and rarest way, alamode, To boil a Capon or Chicken in white Broth, To make a Bisk divers ways, andin one version of his marrow pies – which I repeat here:

Marrow Pies.

For the garnish of the
dish, make marrow pies made like round Chewets but not so high altogether, then
have sweet-breads of veal cut like small dice, some pistaches, and Marrow, some
Potato's, or Artichocks cut like Sweetbreads: as also some enterlarded Bacon; Yolks
of hard Eggs, Nutmeg, Salt, Goosberries, Grapes, or Barberries, and some minced
Veal in the bottom of the Pie minced with some Bacon or Beef-suit [suet],
Sparagus and Chesnuts, with a little musk; close them up, and bast them with
saffron water, bake them, and liquor it with beaten butter, and set them about
the dish side or brims, with some bottoms of Artichocks, and yolks of hard
Eggs,